From tiny seeds（种子）, great discoveries grow. A mini-garden carried on China's Chang'e 4 moon lander recently became home to the first plant to grow on another world.
This is yet another success for Chang'e 4. On January 2, the probe（探测器）became the first lander to touch down on the far side of the moon. This is the unknown face of the moon that is always looking away from us, so we never see it from down here on the earth. Although it is often regarded as the dark side of the moon, the far side actually gets as much sunshine as the near side. For example, when all we can see is a silver sliver of a new moon, the far side of the moon is in full sunlight.
Part of Chang'e 4's mission（使命）is to see how a moon base could be built for humans, including exploring（探索）whether humans could grow food and other plant products there. Chang'e 4 carried a mini-garden with air, water and soil with seeds planted in it. When plants shoot on the earth, their stems grow away from the gravity（the force that keeps your feet on the ground）, and so they always shoot upwards. The moon's gravity is a sixth as strong as the earth's, so Chang'e 4's experiment was a test: would the earth plants know which way was up on the moon? Four days after landing, a tiny cotton shoot showed that they do.
Night has now fallen on the far side of the moon; sunlight will not return until the start of February. As a result, the cotton shoots died. Besides the darkness, the plants can't stand the cold（it can drop to -170℃ on the moon at night）. However, the experiment is a success, since it has proved that it is possible for plants to grow in space.
1. The text is mainly about ________.| A．another success for Chang'e 4 | B．Chang'e 4 moon lander |
| C．tiny seeds in the soil | D．the steps of an experiment |
| A．It carried a mini-garden. | B．It landed on the near side of the moon. |
| C．It explored the moon base. | D．It found plants on the moon. |
| A．the far side of the moon gets less sunlight |
| B．we can see the far side of the moon from the earth |
| C．the stems fail to grow away from the earth's gravity |
| D．the earth plants know the way to grow on the moon |
| A．Plants can be grown on the moon soon. | B．It is perfect to do experiments on the moon. |
| C．The cotton shoots can last days on the moon. | D．We can see a new moon at the start of February. |
| A．Health and sport. | B．History and culture. |
| C．Science and technology. | D．Population and environment. |
2 . 
Today we can do everything with apps: pay bills, order food and shop for anything. Mobile technology means we can hold the world in our hands. However, when it comes to technology and health care, opportunities and challenges come together.
Let’s start with the ways to get health care. Telemedicine can allow a patient to use technology to see the doctor online and get a diagnosis (诊断) and instructions without leaving home.
In addition, there are many patient websites. These allow for different kinds of interactions about our health needs without involving the medical team. Setting a date with doctors and reading lab results are readily achieved by technology.
A whole new age of medical care seems likely (可能的) to come in the future. But every coin has two sides. What might be on the other side of techno-health care?
Firstly, we should think about the health care experience as a whole. A usual visit to a doctor begins with a receptionist (接待员) , who can see and tell how a patient is doing, This may influence the treatment effect. It’s unlikely that a patient website will have such intuition.
Next, sharing the details of one's life requires trust, which takes time to build. This is certainly true in health care, where some of life's best and worst moments involve doctors. The human touch should not be undervalued and is unlikely to be there over the smartphone.
Lastly, test results can be difficult to understand. When someone without a medical degree sees a flagged result with no explanation on the website, there's room for all kinds of stories to form in their minds—and also great worry.
So how does medicine adapt (适应) to the new technology age? Very talented companies are working on it .There is medical equipment(设备) that can be used at home to send necessary signs and heart sounds through telemedicine . It seems likely that some companies will find a way to explain test results.
But what it will not achieve is the warmth of human interaction and touch. Patients often need someone to listen to —and care about—their journey story, which will never be realized through a human-less technology. Technology should be a tool, but depending on it totally will most certainly have unexpected effects. Let's not allow our humanity to be one of them.
1. According to the passage, how does technology help health care?| A．It encourages doctors to voice their needs on the websites |
| B．It offers the patient a convenient way to get a diagnosis |
| C．It improves relations between doctors and patients. |
| D．It provides an opportunity to build a medical team |
| A．an ability to understand | B．an interesting experience |
| C．a chance to win | D．a fair decision |
| A．Patient websites require trust from doctors. |
| B．Talented companies can give medical advice. |
| C．Flagged results may cause worry for patients. |
| D．Medical equipment collects patients’ stories. |
| A．technology can deal with unexpected effects. |
| B．telemedicine can take the place of usual health care. |
| C．it is difficult for patients to adapt to the new technology age. |
| D．techno-health care should take humanity into consideration. |
3 . The longest river in the world is the Nile. It is 4,160 miles long. But the Nile is not the mightiest (浩荡的) river. The Amazon is. The Amazon is also the second longest river in the world. It is 3,900 miles long. How long is that? It is longer than a road going from New York City to San Francisco.
The Amazon is the mightiest for this reason. It has the greatest amount of water. More water runs out to sea than from the Nile. Mississippi, and Yangtze rivers combined. That's a lot of fresh water! The force of its current (水流) is great too. The current can be seen 200 miles out in the sea. There's a story to show the Amazon's amazing current. A ship sailed (航行) far away from Brazil. It ran out of drinking water. Another ship passed by. The first ship asked for water. Someone on the second ship said. "Just put your buckets (桶) into the sea."
Here are a few more facts. At its mouth, the Amazon is 90 miles wide. Even up the river, you can't see the opposite bank. The river is also very deep(from 22 to 76 meters). During rainy season, the river rises about 16 meters more. Big ocean ships can sail about 1,800 miles upstream (向上游). Smaller ships can sail 1,000 miles farther.
What's the most bloodthirsty fish in the world? No. It's not the shark. It's the Amazon's piranha. It is only about 10 cm to 20 cm long. It has sharp teeth. Thousands travel in a group. No animal can swim across the rivet. A 1,000-pound horse would be just bones (骨头) in three minutes. Are you planning a trip to the Amazon? Here's a piece of advice. Leave your swimsuit at home!
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。1. After reading this passage it seems clear that____________.
| A．people do not drink the Amazon’s water |
| B．it would not be good to visit the Amazon during rainy season |
| C．sailing on the Amazon requires knowledge of its current |
| A．telling how long the Nile is | B．comparing it to a distance(距离)on land |
| C．comparing it with the Yangtze River | |
| A．锋利的 | B．急剧的 | C．强烈的 |
| A．piranha in the Amazon | B．traveling in the Amazon | C．interesting facts about the Amazon |
Everybody’s house smells in some way.
You almost never even notice the way your own place smells. You notice the way everyone else’s place smells as soon as you walk in. There are their cats, and the soap, and the new furniture they just got. And those all add up to the way their house smells.
But you can only smell your own house after you’ve been away for a while—like, a long while. Not just a workday, but like a week.
It has to do with sensory adaptation (感觉适应). That’s the scientific way to say that you just get used to it. And it’s more pronounced for our sense of smell than for any other sense, like our hearing, for example.
Researcher Pamela Dalton at the Monell Chemical Senses Center has done a lot of work on sensory adaptation. She and her team say that adaptation means you respond (做出反应) less when a stimulus (刺激物) is repeated. So when you’re at home, the smell of your house is all around you. It never goes away. It’s not just repeated—you’re swimming in it. So you become adapted to the way it smells.
The thing with smell, though, is that you adapt to smells really quickly. After “even a few breaths” of a smell, Dalton says, you begin to acclimate to it.
You start to experience that smell as being less strong and finally take no note of it at all. That’s why you can smell your friend’s house when you walk in, but you don’t really notice it all the time you’re there.
Being able to detect (探测) smells is important. It might warn you of danger, like an approaching (接近的) tiger or something gone bad in your drinks. Or it might mean something pleasant, like that fresh bread or the blooming flowers.
Your nose can stay on the lookout for new smells that are dangerous or delicious.
It might be a simple housekeeping thing, like a dishwasher in the kitchen or towels in the bathroom that needs to be cleaned .
Then, if you still want to change the way your house smells, many things might do the trick, like a million candles, fresh fruits, or a bottle of perfume.
1. From Paragraph 2 we know our _______ may not be part of our house smells.| A．cats | B．soap | C．new sofa | D．old chairs |
| A．when a stimulus is repeated, people respond more. |
| B．when you’re at home, the smell of your house never goes away. |
| C．You don’t really smell your friend’s house all the time you’re there. |
| D．People are easy to adapt to smells quickly, even after a few breaths. |
| A．Get used to. | B．Become interested in. |
| C．Disagree with. | D．Feel sick about. |
| A．You can smell your own house after you’ve been away for a week or longer. |
| B．When you’re at home, you’re swimming in the smell of your house. |
| C．Smells can warn you of danger but can not mean something pleasant. |
| D．Fresh fruits and perfume can help to change the way your house smells. |
| A．How can you smell better? |
| B．Why can’t you smell your own house? |
| C．Everyone needs smells at home. |
| D．The ways of making new smell |
5 . Many countries all over the world have National Parks. There are about 7, 000 National Parks around the world. Most of them protect natural settings as well as the plants and animals that live there, but a few are in towns and cities.
Are there National Parks in England?
There are nine National Parks in England. The first three were the Peak District, the Lake District and Dartmoor, which were all named as National Parks in 1951. Others followed afterwards, such as the North York Moors in 1952, the New Forest in 2005 and the South Downs in 2010.
Are National Parks in England the same as those in other countries?
Many National Parks around the world cover huge areas of land where nobody lives, but in England most of the countryside within them is useful for farming and other activities. As a result, National Parks in England include places where people live and work, as well as wild and beautiful areas where there is little sign or human life.
Why do visitors go to the National Parks?
There are plenty of activities to do in all of the National Parks in England. Visitors can walk or cycle, following marked route, and many of the parks organize activities for families.
Are there any problems in the National Parks?
There are about 110 million visitors to the parks every year, bringing many benefits to the areas but creating problems too. Many popular towns and villages can be swamped (充斥) by visitors. This results in overcrowded car parks and roads ①choked with traffic. Life can be difficult for people who live there, as more and more gift shops and cafes are opened instead of those everyday shops; in popular areas, house prices can become too high for local people making it hard for them to stay in the area.
Another major problem is litter. In the parks② it is a particular (特别的) danger to animals. Broken glass can also cause fires by focusing the rays of the sun. ③When these start in wild places, they are much harder to control and can damage (毁坏) large areas very quickly.
How can people help?
All National Parks in England promote (倡导) the Countryside Code, which tells people how to take care of their environment. If these rules are followed, the National Parks will be protected and continue to give pleasure to many people for a long time.
1. 根据短文，填入合适的单词来补全句子，每空一词。Most National Parks around the world are to protect
2. 根据上下文猜测①处划线单词的汉语意思。
3. 请在文中找出与“Local people can hardly afford to buy houses to liver there in popular areas.”意思相同或相近的句子。
4. 文中②处划线it所指代的内容是
5. 将文中划线的英语句子③翻译成汉语。
6 . Songs about growing up
Thousands of songs about growing up are available (可得到的). They can always get a response (反应) from teenagers in some way. While listening to the songs, old or new, teenagers can always feel themselves or understand themselves.
a. Songs about being a teenager
Growing up isn't always easy. Teens always want to be independent, but parents have a hard time letting go. There can be moments of worry, uncertainty and even anger. Some songs speak of (2) those feelings and can help them get through this period.
b. Songs about(3)___________
As teenagers grow. They're likely looking toward the day when they'll be able to work hard to achieve their dreams. The Westlife's song I have a dream is well-known. The key lyrics (歌词) are "I have a dream, a song to sing. To help me cope (处理) with anything... You can take the future even if you fail". This song has encouraged so many teenagers to fight for their dreams.
c. Graduation songs
Graduation songs usually speak of the joy of this season of their life. These songs are perfect for graduation parties and get-togethers with friends. As they graduate, they can sing "Today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten...".
When teenagers grow up, they find childhood is a bittersweet (苦乐参半的) time. (5) They've looked forward to the day for so many years and finally it is here. However, they may not be sure about whether they're ready for it. At this time, listening to songs about the sweet days of childhood can always make them relaxed.
1. What is the response from teenagers while they are listening to the songs?2. What does "those feeling" refer to?
3. Complete the subtitle (副标题) for "b".
4. What are graduation songs about according to the passage?
5. Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.
7 . “Which is the right bin for my garbage?” This may be the most-asked question in Shanghai since it started a new garbage-sorting program on July 1, 2019. When learning about the four types of garbage — wet, dry, recyclable and harmful — many people might be confused about how to properly sort it.
To help people figure this out, China’s tech companies are giving a hand. For example, if you want to know which bin your wet wipes (湿巾) should go in, you can just open a mini app (小程序) in WeChat or Alipay and look for “wet wipes”. The app will give you the answer right away. Soon, you might do it in an easier way. Maybe you can just take a photo of the garbage and then be told where it should go.
This kind of technology is called image recognition (图像识别). It uses artificial intelligence (AI, 人工智能). Many companies around the world are making garbage-sorting robots that use this technology. For example, AMP Robotics in the US has made a robot that can sort food and drink packages . By “seeing” pictures on the packaging, the robot will pick up the trash and put it in the right place.
The future of garbage-sorting looks good. But it’s not the best way. The best thing we can do is to make less garbage in the first place.
Four kinds of garbage in Shanghai
1. Why is the question “Which is the right bin for my garbage?” the most asked one in Shanghai?
| A．Because Shanghai has the most garbage in China. |
| B．Because Shanghai started a new garbage-sorting program in 2019. |
| C．Because people in Shanghai are fond of asking questions. |
| D．Because people in Shanghai don’t know about garbage. |
| A．Dog waste and paper are wet garbage. |
| B．Peel and batteries are harmful garbage. |
| C．Lamp and plastics are recyclable. |
| D．Clothes and glass bottles are recyclable. |
| A．Go to China’s high tech companies and ask for help. |
| B．Take a photo of it and send it to the high-tech company. |
| C．Open a mini app in WeChat or Alipay and look for answers |
| D．Buy a robot and ask him to do it for you. |
| A．to make less garbage |
| B．to sort garbage in a proper way |
| C．to educate people to know the types of garbage |
| D．to develop high technology to sort garbage |
8 . “Made in China” is having its moment now —— and it’s a fashionable one. The story of Chinese fashion began in 2011 when Feiyue and Huili, both Chinese shoe brands, suddenly had international attention. Their products were seen on models all over the world.
Shaun Rein, a manager of China Market Research Group said that they wish to go head to head with foreign brands. China’s young people are now more confident (自信的) about their own culture. Western culture doesn’t excite the young than it had before.
“Today’s young people in China are excited about Chinese cultural elements (元素),” Jin Qu, a worker from a clothing shopping website in China, said at a cultural festival in November. “They like these elements printed on their clothes, even the brand image of laoganma —— the famous chili sauce in China —— which was once seen as outside of fashion. But now young people are proud of these Chinese symbols.”
In fact, many famous people in the West now are also crazy about Chinese cultural elements in fashion. A US singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty (蕾哈娜), for example, wore a shiny and heavily embroidered (刺绣) dress to an important show. The dress was designed (设计) and made by Chinese designer Guo Pei.
“We have to move from producing to service and creativity,” Chinese-American architect(建筑师) and designer Aric Chen once said. “We want to replace the words ‘Made in China’ with ‘Designed in China’.”
根据短文内容，判断下列句子正误。正确的用“A”表示，不正确的用“B” 表示。
1. Two Chinese shoe brands Feiyue and Huili now are becoming popular around the world.
2. Young people in China used to be excited about Western culture.
3. China’s young people are less interested in Chinese culture than Westerners.
4. Some Westerners like Chinese cultural elements.
9 . Wang Jun, 14, lives in a poor village in Yunnan, where educational resources are short. However，he has learned bionics(仿生学) by taking MOOC, or massive(大规模的，大量的) open online courses, allow students all over the country to take lessons online at any time, from anywhere. There are no limits or requirements to the user's location, gender(性别)or age. No matter who you are, you can learn about whatever you want. They allow users to study at their own speed. For example, when watching a video of a report you can pause(暂停)or even replay the report at any time.
MOOC were first developed in the West in 2011.They came to China around 2013. That year, Tsinghua University founded Xue tang X，the world's first Chinese MOOC platform.It's mainly for college students. It provides users with high-quality online courses from more than 600 top universities around the world. After seven years of development China has the largest number of MOOC learners in the world. About 270 million people have taken MOOC in China as of January this year according to the Ministry of Education. About 80 million of these users are college students. Because of the COVID-19, the number of MOOC users has been risen rapidly.
Users can choose from 15,000 courses through the MOOC platforms. The courses vary(使多样化) greatly from traditional subjects such as foreign language and science to popular majors(专业) such as big data and artificial intelligence(人工智能) .More than 200 of these courses have been looked through by people from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and South Korea, China Daily reported.
The MOOC network has played an important role in education equity(公平) . Colleges and universities in China's less-developed western areas have tried to introduce open online courses in their classrooms. Over 3 million students from colleges in western China have taken online courses, Xinhua reported.
By the end of this year, the Ministry of Education plans to start a bilingual(双语的) gateway website that will connect Chinese MOOC to about 20 different MOOC websites. Students in other parts of the world will be able to take Chinese MOOC.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about Xue tang X according to the passage?| A．It was the world's first MOOC platform. |
| B．It was founded in 2011 by Tsinghua University. |
| C．It has the largest number of MOOC learners in the world. |
| D．It not only provides users with online courses from Tsinghua University. |
| A．About 270 million. | B．About 80 million. |
| C．Over 3 million. | D．15.000. |
| A．The advantages of MOOC. |
| B．The disadvantages of MOOC. |
| C．The courses on the MOOC platforms. |
| D．The number of MOOC users in China. |
| A．In a daily newspaper. |
| B．In a fashion magazine. |
| C．On a university noticeboard. |
| D．On the education page of a newspaper. |
| A．It has developed slowly in the past seven years in China. |
| B．There are limits and requirements to the user's location and age bib so |
| C．It has played an important role in China's less-developed western education. |
| D．China has started a bilingual gateway website connecting with 20 different MOOC websites. |
Imagine mountains wrapped in silver water, shining in the spring sun. Summer sees the mountains turn bright green with growing rice. During autumn, these same mountains are gold, and in winter they are covered with white frost(霜). These are the colors of the Longji Rice Terraces(龙脊梯田).
These terraces were built by the local Zhuang and Yao people. Guangxi is home to them. Starting in the Yuan Dynasty, work on the terraces took hundreds of years until it was completed in the early Qing Dynasty.
So why did these people go to so much trouble to turn the mountains into terraces?
Firstly, there are few large and flat areas in the region they built terraces to have more areas to grow rice.
Secondly, although the region has plenty of rain, the mountains are1.steepand the soil is 2.shallow. The flat terraces catch the rainwater and prevent the soil from being washed away.
But perhaps what is most important is the way in which people have worked in harmony with(和谐相处) nature to make these terraces and grow rice. The terraces are cleverly designed with hundreds of waterways that connect with each other. The rainwater moves down the mountains and into the terraces along the waterways. 3.These terraces also provide a perfect environment for birds and fish, they feed on insects that can harm the rice crops.
Although modern technology could help produce more crops, these terraces still mean a lot to the local people for whom traditions hold much value. Today, the Longji Rice Terraces attract thousands of visitors every year.' They visit this great wonder created by people and nature working together.
1. How many reasons about turning the mountains into terraces are mentioned?
2. Guess the meanings of the underlined words in paragraph 5.
3. Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.
4. In what other ways do people live in harmony with nature? Give examples. (at least one)
5. Give a proper title to the passage.
